This is a post I did about two weeks ago that I had to delete and repost because of HTML tag errors that I do not understand, sorry for the confusion
In the 30's the hotel hit hard times and closed its doors. In March 1943 the U.S. Army chose to put one of several secret interrogation centers for German naval prisoners of war. The U.S. Navy had asked for these centers to gain naval intelligence. During 1944, there were about 921 Japanese prisoners and 645 Germans interrogated. The same report shows that the maximum number of prisoners on hand at any one time did not exceed fifty-one. Since it was a violation of the Geneva Convention to set up such centers and question prisoners of war in this manner, the centers were made to look like PW processing centers where PWs were brought for a brief period before being sent on to established PW camps. The PWs were made as comfortable as possible with good living quarters, good food and plenty of recreation. This got them talking. Also, anti-Nazi Germans working for the Americans, were intermingled with the PWs to draw them out. The activities were kept secret from the local citizenry and from the Swiss Government representatives who visited the center from time-to-time. The information gathered at Camp Tracy could have positively effected the outcome of some of the critical battles of the war. Some of the improvements made during this time included barracks, a fire station, and an air strip which is now the Byron Airport.
I'm guessing this picture on the right is the barracks. It's basic and has a 40's style tile in the kitchen and also some pretty modern insulation in the walls. The picture on the left may be the Fire station the army built.
Interesting quotes:
The 50th Year Reunion: A Good Time To Look Back and Look
Ahead -- Dempster Dirks "When I was stationed at the PO.W. Station in Byron Hot Springs, near Tracy, California where we monitored the German and Japanese officers who were our "guests," our Commandant, Colonel Kent, felt it was only right that we would occasionally take some of the officers into San Francisco with us for dinner and a show."
A quote from the late Bill Burdette, the last Tracyitte who was at Camp Tracy(I wish I had the chance to talk to this guy, past interviews?) "There were 5 top German Generals. The best known was Gen. Gustav von Vaerst, who had been commander of the Fifth Panzer Army in North Africa. “He (Gen. von Vaerst) and other German generals were quite formal, even haughty. They wouldn’t speak to enlisted men like me, only to senior officers"
More reading
Bill Burdette's Obituary
Historic California Posts: Hotsprings POW camp
Made by Brian W. Barringer in 2006 for
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